Feedeeic egkeb



(No Model.)

F. EGNER.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS.

Patented Sept. 15, 1885.

WITNESSES I W ATTORNEYS.

Lilhogrzpher, Washington, 0. c.

- UNITED STATES FREDERIO EGNER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF lLLUlVllNATlNG-GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326%88, dated September15, 1885.

Application filed May 23, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIO EGNER, of St. Louis, in the State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Apparatus for theManufacture of Illuminati ng-Gas, of which the following is such full,clear, and exact description as will enable others skilled in the art tomake and use the same, when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which 4 Figure 1 is a plan view of the whole apparatus, andFig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section.

A is a generator with tiring-door (Z, grate, as shown, a steam-pipe, c.in the ash-pit, fuel-hopper,and valve h, stoke and sight holes S,take-off pipes P P, leading to hydraulic seal W through valve V.

Bis an ordinary bench of retorts, such as is used in coal-gas works. WVrepresents the hydraulic main "of same; m m m, the retortlids; O, themain take-oft pipe, which may be used when the apparatus as a whole isnot in use.

I is a secondary take-off pipe leading to the back of the exhauster E,which herein is represented as of the style known as steam-jetexhausters, but any kind of exhauster may be used.

V is a valve in pipe I, which is not only for the purpose of shuttingoff that pipe from seal W when the bench alone should be used, butserves particularly to assist in regulating the relative amount ofvacuum to be carried in WV when the whole is operated together.

V is a valve, to be closed when the apparatus is worked as a whole.

V is still another valve in pipe 0, and is back of exhauster E, so thatreally pipeO and valve V might be entirely dispensed with, for byclosing V the gas made in B could be taken away through pipe 0.

t is simply an overflow pipe from the seal \V.

The manner of operating is as follows: A fire is kindled in A and thefuel supplied freely until a depth of four to five feet is reached. Thebench B meanwhile having been heated, gas can be made in it from richcoals or oil, the oil being-supplied by the tank shown. The gas thusmade may pass through I and exhauster E, valve V being (No modelmeanwhile closed. \Vhen A is ready, V is opened as far as may berequired until about one-tenth of an inch vacuum is shown to exist in Aabove the fuel. It will then be found that the fire on the grate ofgenerator A will burn very brightly. Steam is then turned on under thegrate at o to as great an extent as the fire will admit, and it will befound astonishing how much steam can be thus used. The steam and air goin under the grate together continuously. As the fuel is consumed onthegrate the deficiency is supplied from on top through the hopper andvalve h.

Bituminous coal and coke mixed is preferred. It has been found bypractice that any kind of coal can be used, but that ordinary gas-coalwith about onethird of coke is far the best. This must be suppliedregularly and in not too large quantities-that is, it is far better tosupplya little often than a great deal at once. lVhen the former isdone,there will be no trouble with caking of the coal, and consequentchoking of the furnace or generator A.

The gas made in this generator is a mixture of carbonic oxide,uncombined nitrogen, and rather more ammonia than is gotten in theordinary process of distilling coals; also,a considerable amount of freehydrogen is formed, and no tar is made, the tar apparently being takenup in the shape of carbureted hydrogen. The ashes and clinkers formedare removed in the usual way.

The gas. from generator A and bench B meet and are mixed by passingtogether through the exhauster E, and practice has proved that nofurther mixing or heating of the gas is necessary.

Any grade of illuminating power may be obtained by using fewer or moreretorts with this apparatus.

The fuel in A must never be allowed to get to a less depth thanthirty-six inches.

Having thus shown and described my improvement as to construction andoperation, I may briefly state wherein my invention differs essentiallyfrom all other water-gas processes.

It will be observed that instead of alternately heating my fuel by ablast or otherwise, then supplying steam to be decomposed, aftershutting off the air, I allow steam and ICO air to go into the samefurnace together, the The combination, substantially as before setindraft being caused by the same apparatus forth, of the generator,bench of retorts, byor exhauster at the same time that it also draulieseals, valves, pipes, and exhauster, takes the gas from bench B; but Ido not claim connected as herein described, and operated 15 5 this styleof generator as my invention. The as a whole together. coal and oil gasbench is old, worked by itself, and I do not, of course, claim that; norFREDERIO EGNER. yet the exhauster in connection-with either of these(generator or bench but Witnesses:

IO What I do claim, and desire to secure by "OHAs' J. OWEN,

Letters Patent, is- J NO. A. TOMPKINS.

